Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction June 20 1866

A claim for the immediate admission of senators and representatives from the socalled Confederate States has
been urged, which seems to your committee not to be
founded either in reason or in law, and which cannot be
passed without comment. Stated in a few words, it amounts
to this: That inasmuch as the lately insurgent States had
no legal right to separate themselves from the Union, they
still retain their positions as States, and consequently the
people thereof have a right to immediate representation
in Congress without the imposition of any conditions whatever. . . .
It has even been contended that until such
admission all legislation affecting their interests is, if not
unconstitutional, at least unjustifiable and oppressive.

It is believed by your Committee that these
propositions are not only wholly untenable, but, if admitted
would tend to the destruction of the government.

It must not be forgotten that the people of these
States, without justification or excuse, rose in insurrection
against the United States. They deliberately abolished
their State governments so far as the same connected
them politically with the Union. . . . They opened
hostilities and levied war against the government. They
continued this war for four years with the most determined
and malignant spirit. . . . Whether legally and
constititionally or not, they did, in fact, withdraw from the Union
and made themselves subjects of another government of
their own creation. And they only yielded when
they were compelled by utter exhaustion to lay down
their arms . . . expressing no regret, except that they
had no longer the power to continue the desperate struggle

It cannot, we think, be denied by any one, having
tolerable acquaintance with public law, that the war thus
waged was a civil war of the greatest magnitude. The
people waging it were necessarily subject to all the rule
which, by the law of nations, control a contest of that
character, and to all the legitimate consequences
following it. One of those consequences was that, within the
limits prescribed by humanity, the conquered rebels were
at the mercy of the conquerors. That a government thus
outraged had a most perfect right to exact indemnity for
the injuries done, and security against the recurrence of
such outrages in the future, would seem too clear for
dispute. .

Your committee came to the consideration of the
subject referred to them with the most anxious desire
ascertain what was the condition of the people of the
States recently in insurrection, and what, if anything, was
necessary to be done before restoring them to the full
enjoyment of all their original privileges. It was
undeniable that the war into which they had plunged the
country had materially changed their relations to the
people of the loyal States. Slavery had been abolished
by constitutional amendment. A large proportion of the
population had become, instead of mere chattels, free
men and citizens. Through all the past struggle these had
remained true and loyal, and had, in large numbers,
fought on the side of the Union. It was impossible to
abandon them, without securing them their rights as free
men and citizens. . . . Hence it became important to
inquire what could be done to secure their rights, civil
and political. It was evident to your committee that
adequate security could only be found in appropriate
constitutional provisions. By an original provision of the
Constitution, representation is based on the whole number
of free persons in each State, and three-fifths of all other
persons. When all become free, representation for all
necessarily follows. As a consequence the inevitable
effect of the rebellion would be to increase the political
power of the insurrectionary States, whenever they should
be allowed to resume their position as States of the
Union. . . . It did not seem just or proper that all the
political advantages derived from their becoming free
should be confined to their former masters, who had
fought against the Union, and withheld from themselves,
who had always been loyal. . . . Doubts were entertained
whether Congress had power, even under the amended
Constitution, to prescribe the qualifications of voters in
a State, or could act directly on the subject. It was
doubtful . . . whether the States would consent to
surrender a power they had always exercised, and to which
they were attached. As the best if not the only method
of surmounting the difficulty, and as eminently just and
proper in itself, your committee came to the conclusion
that political power should be possessed in all the States
exactly in proportion as the right of suffrage should be
granted, without distinction of color or race. This it was
thought would leave the whole question with the people
of each State, holding out to all the advantage of increased
political power as an inducement to allow all to
participate in its exercise. Such a provision would be in its
nature gentle and persuasive, and would lead, it was
hoped, at no distant day, to an equal participation of all,
without distinction, in all the rights and privileges of
citizenship, thus affording a full and adequate protection
to all classes of citizens, since all would have, through
the ballot-box, the power of self-protection. . .

With such evidence before them, it is the opinion of
your committed

That the States lately in rebellion were, at the
close of the war, disorganized communities, without civil
government, and without constitutions or other forms, by
virtue of which political relations could legally exist
between them and the federal government.

That Congress cannot be expected to recognize as
valid the election of representatives from disorganized
communities, which, from the very nature of the case,
were unable to present their claim to representation under
those established and recognized rules, the observance of
which has been hitherto required.

That Congress would not be justified in admitting
such communities to a participation in the government of
the country without first providing such constitutional or
other guarantees as will tend to secure the civil rights of
all citizens of the republic; a just equality of
representation; protection against claims founded in rebellion and
crime; a temporary restoration of the right of suffrage
to those who had not actively participated in the efforts
to destroy the Union and overthrow the government, and
the exclusion from positions of public trust of, at least,
a portion of those whose crimes have proved them to be
enemies to the Union, and unworthy of public confidence.